Jeffrey D. Sadow is an associate professor of political science at Louisiana State University Shreveport. If you're an elected official, political operative or anyone else upset at his views, don't go bothering LSUS or LSU System officials about that because these are his own views solely.
This publishes Sunday through Thursday with the exception of 7 holidays. Also check out his Louisiana Legislature Log especially during legislative sessions (in "Louisiana Politics Blog Roll" below).

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8.11.12

As usual, election results produce
their share of winners and losers, and Louisiana politicians have no special
immunity to this. Thus, from the latest quadrennial elections, we find:

WINNER: Gov. Bobby
Jindal. While a Pres. Barack Obama
reelection will continue to create governance headaches for him and all
governors, on a career level that Rep. Paul Ryan (safely reelected to
his seat) did not win the vice presidency and Republicans will not be the party
of the White House leaves him with more
options and more upwards potential. Should Jindal fancy the presidency any
such quest would have been out the window for the next eight years, and even
then Ryan would have become the favorite to carry the party banner in eight
years. Now, they are more on terms with each other and Jindal has more control
over timing of attempted moves.

For a politician ambitious to the
highest level, a cabinet position does no real good and perhaps even harm, so a
Republican presidency offering him such a position conveyed no real benefit. Without
that kind of job, his only real option to keep the momentum going would have
been to run for the Senate in 2014. Even as those chances now are enhanced as a
result of the election, he could skip that step and go directly to running for
the presidency at the end of his term in 2015.

6.11.12

Although the election calendar
claims we’re going to have some contests in Louisiana on Dec. 8, in reality all
statewide contests substantively will have been settled over a month earlier.
Yet this outcome wasn’t the most interesting one in state politics from this
election.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Public
Service Commission District 2 contest did end without further voting with
former state executive branch official Scott Angelle winning a majority. Considered
the favorite with his fundraising ability as evidence, he proved strong enough
not to need a runoff. This demonstration begins a solid electoral base for him to
build on should his ambitions grow for more prestigious offices in the future.

By contrast, in the contest to
fill the open Supreme Court District 5, the demographics suggested that Democrat
1st Circuit Court of Appeals Judge John Michael Guidry would face
any of several Republicans in a runoff where the Republican would win and to
some degree every Republican was competitive. The thinking was that whoever
wound up second would have become so narrowly, but instead another Republican
from that court, Court of Appeals Judge Jeff
Hughes surprisingly created some separation from the others to claim that
spot while all but one of them ended up with roughly the same number of votes.

The problem with the Macondo oil
well blowout was it happened at the wrong time. Lesson: with a big government
liberal in the White House, in a conservative state you better hope if a
disaster comes it’s close to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November
in years divisible by four.

Shortly after Hurricane Sandy
pushed ashore New Jersey, Pres. Barack Obama, among other things, authorized
the waiving of the Merchant Marine
(Jones) Act of 1920, which allows foreign-flagged vessels to transport
between U.S. ports directly. Upon request in an emergency situation, the law
designed to bolster the U.S. marine industry and its unions in this instance
gave way to concerns of shipping in fuel to the stricken area. Former Pres.
George W. Bush had done likewise when Katrina plowed into Louisiana in 2005 to
facilitate rescue and relief.

But in 2010, despite at least one
known request to do so, Obama refused
to allow waiving of the law when BP’s well in the Gulf of Mexico blew out, where
in this instance the floating sheen advanced on the coastline and skimming
vessels badly were needed to try to ameliorate the potential devastating
effects. Officially, the Obama Administration feigned ignorance of the know
request and asserted the law did not apply. Unofficially, this would serve to
steer more resources into the hands of unions and placate environmentalist interests,
as a broader strategy of turning down any foreign assistance.

Seven House Republicans last
week, in a special joint meeting of Appropriations and the Senate Finance Committee
ruled to have the power to approve of the contract, voted for moving the matter
to a vote which well may have lead to its defeat on the House side. Their
Senate colleagues refused to bring up the matter that would have led to a vote,
prompting withdrawal of the contract as is presumably to be reintroduced in
modified form in the near future. With six of them having put together
demonstrably conservative/reform records over the past five years, their votes
came more as succumbing to constituent and public relations pressures than as any
signaling of repudiation of their political beliefs.

Of those seven, four held spots appointed
through election by members from their 2000-10 U.S. House districts,
meaning leverage against them could come only from their other committee
assignments made by Kleckley. One, state Rep. Jim Morris,
already had been stripped of a position he coveted on another committee, so there
wasn’t a whole lot of inducement to be directed against him. Another, state
Rep. Brett
Geymann, has no other committee assignments since he declared himself in
reclusion earlier this year (and is a pal of Kleckley’s so is allowed presently
to have just the one House assignment). A third, state Rep. Rogers Pope, has
been an inconsistent supporter of Kleckley’s agenda so punishment by removing
him from another committee would not produce much leverage. The fourth, state
Rep. John
Schroder, has been perhaps the most consistent conservative voice in the
Legislature in the past five years, and got a pass as a result.